Tales of Trenzalore: Series 2
by Zoricus
Summary: The Doctor continues his life during the long siege of Trenzalore. 83 years have passed, and The Doctor is regretting his decision to defend the planet. With Handles as his only friend, will be continue to be the God Trenzalore needs? New chapter every couple of days, first chapter gives context because I don't expect people to read the questionable series 1 I wrote. T for safety.
1. Authors notes and prologue

Authors notes:

This follows directly of off series 1 of Tales of Trenzalore

Series 1 wasn't too great, it was mainly writing exercises so I will resume everything you need to know. 

The Doctor defended Trenzalore for 83 years. Death and war surrounded him but now he found himself in a new place… Galifrey.

An attack of weeping angels sent him back in time and, quite by luck, through the pocket universe to his home planet. He has to get back, he must protect Trenzalore.


	2. Returning home

Year 1: The Doctor awoke. Galifrey greeted him. His home planet, he was back. The angel had transported him through into the bubble universe. He got up with a start, where was he? A street, a ruined street, rubble and death and despair everywhere.  
>"Think think think!" Said The Doctor. "Angels, they send you back in time, the question shouldn't be where am I it should be when am I". Time passed in the bubble universe as it did in the actual one, it must have been soon after Galifrey had been saved, otherwise the streets would have been rehabilitated… The Doctor looked at the ground, red grass, he was in a park. He looked again to find a broken street below him. He blinked, in the snow on Trenzalore.<br>"What is happening?" The Doctor thought out loud. "Wait, I can't cross my own time stream yet I have, I'm there somewhere on Trenzalore defending the planet and I'm here. The universe is trying to cope with 2 of me at once. No, that's silly, the angel of course! Living off potential energy, it's trying to harvest the energy from Trenzalore. Yes! The teleportation isn't complete I'm still between the two, shifting from past to present, from Galifrey to Trenzalore. Of course, I just have to give the angel a boost in power to finish what it started."  
>The Doctor reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver. <strong>Blink.<strong> Back to Trenzalore. He found it and pressed it against the area of his arm where the angel had touched him. **Blink**. Galifrey again. He amplified energy reception in the area. **Blink** Trenzalore. His sonic was heating up, he instinctively let go of it "Ah!" He exclaimed. **Blink** Galifrey. **Blink** Galifrey. He had done it, he was on Galifrey. Whereabouts was he though? He looked around. One of the many battlefields of the Time War, Dalek remains, Time Lord technology scattered across thousands of miles of red grass. The plains of Arcadia, the massive empty stretch that separated that city from the others, reduced to a wasteland. The Doctor had no time to mourn for the moment, he needed food, shelter and most of all he needed to return to Trenzalore for when he left.

"What better place to build a machine to return home than here" He said to himself, every cloud with its silver lining.

"There aren't many better places, trust him" A voice said from behind him.

The Doctor jumped.  
>"Don't be alarmed," The voice said, "I know who you are Doctor, the defender of this planet and the one below. It had been many years since you saved us on the last day of the Time War but time, as you know, does not always follow a straight line. The government was in ruins, chaos ruled Galifrey for an infinity, and then you came to defend us, Time locked itself to you and then the planet, days started to follow each other in a normal order. This was one year ago Doctor, you have been defending the planet for one year."<br>"I have been defending it for almost 90, soldier"  
>"Please Doctor, call me Sven. Now, let's get you home." <p>

Year 6: Five years had passed since his arrival on Galifrey. The Doctor and Sven had made a home from broken ship parts, they scavenged for food and for the most part The Doctor was happy. Sven, he had learnt, was a pilot from the 7th platoon and had crash-landed after a Dalek ship shot him down. He seemed to want to stay put in the wasteland, not wanting to return to Arcadia to find his family dead. They followed planetary communications and order was being restored to Galifrey, the Doctor had become their symbol of hope. The defender of their way of life. Little did they know that he was amongst them. The Doctor walked home from a scavenging hunt having found some useful equipment and a bit of food. The machine was almost ready, a chair that would teleport The Doctor to the location of his sonic screwdriver, it had to be powerful enough to rip through the bubble universe and into his own. He gleefully entered his makeshift house, for the first time in a long time he was happy again. He sauntered over to the kitchen area. A note greeted him. It was Sven:  
>"Doctor. I'm sorry but I had to meet my family. I'll meet you in the nethersphere. –Sven".<br>The Doctor read and reread the note, and then he saw the hung body through the window.

"Everybody dies," said the Doctor, tears gushing down his face, and he left.

Year 83: Almost eighty years of solitude. The Doctor had met no one, his machine had been ready for over half a century he just had to wait. So he waited.  
>"I am the survivor," He said, talking to the people he saw in his head. "Clara, I am the survivor, I always survive but I never win. No more Clara. I will not survive Trenzalore, I will be forever slowly dying". He waited for the day that he had been forced to leave Trenzalore, he would know when that day came, we could feel it approaching. When that day came he activated the machine, no words, no happiness, no sorrow. War and suffering and pain had removed all emotion from The Doctor, he was a shadow of the man he had once been. The machine worked, he returned to the town and nobody knew any better. They didn't see the suffering in the Doctor's eyes, they only saw their warrior, their god…<p> 


	3. Alone atop a church tower

Year 84:

One year had passed since The Doctor had returned from Galifrey. For one year, whenever people saw him he would greet them politely but without another word. For one year no one talked to him unless he needed to. For one year no one saw him outside of the church unless it was to save the day. And the day had needed saving. The Sontaran army had developed an ion blast that rendered the planetary shields useless, and had descended to the planet below, followed by the other aliens waiting on their prey. The Doctor, the man who would never kill without giving people a chance, had no choice. The inhabitants of Christmas were armed, retrofitted weapons from the 3 most formidable military forces in the universe placed in the hands of the most resilient species. Cybermen transformed into manned-artillery. Sontaran weapons modified by The Doctor for human use. Dalek lasers creating a near impenetrable fortress. This was the first time a full-scale invasion had been launched against the planet, for this was the only town left. The entire population of Trenzalore, 25 million people, living in the one town. Roles were given (farmers, soldiers, cooks, child-minders, builders), the Doctor became the leader, the great defender of the planet. Yet he was rarely seen. He had engineered an army, an ecosystem of war, and it disgusted him.

Sitting alone on top on the church tower, the Doctor sighed. The town looked the same, all the new inhabitants living underground to protect themselves. He never talked to anybody anymore, with one exception. 

"What's wrong with me Handles?" The Doctor said, a tragic tone in his voice. 

"Sensors indicate on-set depression from a traumatic past experience" Said the emotionless metal head. 

"Oh, Handles!" The Doctor said with a start. "I forgot to put you on my favourite pillow! Here." The Doctor placed Handles on the red pillow next to him. "Is that better?"

"I have no knowledge of the concept of comfort" Said Handles.

The Doctor let out a short laugh. "I need to get better Handles. The town counts on me, I can't give up hope. But I have, where is the hope? What is there to hope?"

"You are their hope Doctor" Replied the head.

"Why can't I believe that? I used to think I was the Oncoming Storm, unstoppable, that was me. What changed?"

"You experienced a traumatic experience, you have on-set depression" Replied Handles, not understanding the concept of a rhetorical question.

The Doctor sighed. Yes, Handles was right, he couldn't ignore it, but he could try. Besides, there was nothing be could do. The cure to depression is time, the one abundant resource on this planet. Still he moved on, and tried to remain sane.

"Handles, did I ever tell you the story of the discovery of the Ashfold forest?"

"Yes Doctor"

"Well, 30 some years ago, when food was running out, weapons were scarce and more and more people were migrating from other villages, we needed a solution. I don't stock that much food in the TARDIS." He emphasized the that, he had once eaten 3 kilogrammes of ice-cream and there was barely a dent in the freezer. "So, I gathered a task force to try and find food. I linked my sonic to the TARDIS's control panel to scan for any edible creatures. I got a reading measuring far beyond what we had hoped and we went. Me and three others, Marie, Sonny and Nicholas. We trundled through the thick snow, it was winter, it was cold, they were freezing even in their jackets. We walked for hours, not seeing a soul. No birds, no animals of any kind. We talked, we laughed, Sonny told us of his home planet that he left when he was very young, he was a Devfor, tall feathery humanoid creatures from the planet Crides. Nicholas told us the tales of his childhood in Christmas, recalling his fond memories of me and Marie talked about her family, her loving children" The Doctor teared up now. "All dead now… even the children, casualties of the Angel invasion last year. The great people are always the ones who die." He cried for a bit "Sorry, where was I?" Trying but failing to bit it together. "Yes, we got to a cave, the signal ever stronger. We descended, and what we saw was the most beautiful sight. A whole Prifeaque forest, trees that harvested time energy, boosted by the bubble universe. The trees were huge, we ended up a kilometre underground yet the trees almost touched the surface. Fruits the size of Mammoths. And these are no ordinary fruit. They contain an approximate diet of the creatures that life around it. You could have a full meal from the fruit. Invention of a human scientist in the 27th century to absorb any possible negative energy from time travel, truly amazing."

The Doctor paused, it realized again how pointless it was. He let these depressed thoughts get into his head too often. It wasn't pointless, he gave these people lives when otherwise the planet would be overshadowed by The Time War 2.0.

"It's pointless for me of course" He said, getting angry. "I've wasted my entire life caring for humans. Helping them every time a superior species comes along to conquer them. What man stops the natural order of things?!

"A man who cares too much" Replied handles.

The Doctor looked back at his beloved humans. The most recent being, Clara, Rory and Amy. He hadn't wasted his life caring for humans… Humans wasted their lives caring for him. He was nothing but a mess without a companion.

"Wait… I have no companion" Said The Doctor, finally realizing. "I need someone to tell me when to stop, I need someone to let me know if I go to far! Someone to help me like Clara did after the Ponds, like so many people have done for me!"

The Doctor had understood, it had taken him 84 years, but he had understood that the solution was not time, but companionship.


End file.
